My Experience as Youth Pastor

Ok maybe a little lazy because I took Friday off, but I was busy posting a bunch of monkey butts over at FOTTSP. I think that is a reasonable excuse for missing a few days of posts. I took yesterday off too but I tries spending time with my wife because I'm working this weekend and next weekend is ATF, which will be awesome.

I'm gonna follow up with my smoking cessation class I'm facilitating on Mondays now. It's a 10 week deal and is mandatory for teens that have been busted with tobacco. They gave me a group of all guys and they are pretty hard core ... or at least try to be. We've had 2 classes and I was worried they were gonna give me a really hard time but things are going great. My sarcasm seems to be helping. Yesterday I told them I was a Youth pastor and they about fell out of their seats. I swear one guys eyes got 2xs bigger. I had to break the ice again after that and at one point they got onto each other for cussing which was pretty funny. I'm actually really surprised at how much a couple of they guys are sharing even though they say they aren't really interested in quitting. I'm also very thankful for this opportunity because I believe it is a direct answer to prayer. God is giving me opportunity to build a relationship with them. Please pray as I continue in this that I continue to hear God and am bold to follow His lead.

Today was pretty wild too. I had a meeting that lasted pretty much all morning. We got a lot done and it was really important considering some events like ATF are just around the corner. The wild stuff happened after lunch though.

After the meeting I drove back to the church and then walked to SubWay and bought a salad and water then walked to the Gazebo on Main St, which is just down from where I had the meeting but I wanted to get some more walking in. I ate at the Gazebo then read a chapter in one of the books I'm reading about evangelism. Specifically, this chapter dealt with 3 basic kinds of evangelism and different ways they are accomplished. I might go into more detail later but as I finished the chapter I asked God for an opportunity then started walking back. Did you know God is not a long way away? I crossed the street and ran into a guy that had attended the Youth for the first time last week. This kid is pretty hard core to say the least. He had 2 lip piercings, his ears gauged, and a cartilage piercing. He also has a pretty awesome testimony. God isn't done with him by far but God uses him already. We talked for nearly 2 hours and I got to meet several of his friends as they walked by. It was amazing.

From this I've learned a few things. First as much as I love technology I must admit that it is the death of culture. We don't know anyone really because we are always driving around. Every time I take the time to walk I pass a bunch of people and talk to them. This is something you really cannot do when driving. OK you can but it really freaks people out. Try it. Next time you are at a light roll down your window and start talking to the person next to you. They will really freak out if they are like anyone around here. Oddly it is perfectly acceptable to just talk to people as you pass them on the street. Someone sitting out on their porch is happy to talk to you as you walk along even if you don't know them from Adam.

I also learned not to ask God for stuff unless you are ready for an instant answer. Seriously. You might be thinking, hey then I'll ask for a million bucks. Ok but God also tells us to ask for the right motives. Think about it this way. You might think, "God I'd like a bunch of money so I can give it to the poor." That's a great motive but don't pray it unless you are prepared for God to answer by giving you opportunities to give instead of giving money to you. God is frigintastic like that and He'll give to you as you give but rarely the way you expect. I asked God for an opportunity then walked across the street into a long conversation that put my day on hold. I think that was fan-frigintastic and exactly the kind of thing Jesus would do.

I learned some other stuff but I gotta get dinner going. God is good.